AMERICAN PSYCHO Remake: Noble Jones Writing, may Direct

An American Psycho remake may be written and directed by Noble Jones. Remaking American Psycho is dangerous ground to tread on. The first adaptation was a supplement to the book of the same name written by Bret Easton Ellis, a visual of some of the written material. It was never a very good adaptation in my opinion (an adequate one though e.g. Patrick knowing the designers of people’s clothing) nor could any adaptation capture: a.) The obsessive compulsive nature of Patrick Bateman and b.) the vicious and highly descriptive killings in the book.

I will admit I had no idea how Patrick Bateman sounded until I saw the 2000 film. That was good. Now it seems Lionsgate wants another stab (I had to) at the source material.

The official report:

Noble Jones…hopes to make his feature directing debut on an updated low budget remake of American Psycho. Jones, who was Grammy nominated for his documentary 10 Days Out: Blues From the Backroads, is a Fincher protege who pitched the project months ago to Lionsgate, which holds the remake rights. Jones turned in a script about a month ago, but the project has suddenly become buzzed about because it hit the tracking reports that have become the cornerstone of trade reporting. His take was to tap the Bret Easton Ellis novel and turn it into a down and dirty new version that imagines how yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman would fare in New York today, factoring in how the world has changed since the 2000 film that starred Christian Bale.

One of the factors that made the American Psycho story cool was that it was set in the decadent 80’s. Moving it to 2011 brings the story into the digital, aways connected world but I do not see how that is necessarily a good thing for this story besides the fact that Bateman has more things to worry about and more ways to be seen and tracked. He will not have the easy kills and disposals like he could get away with in the 80’s. Maybe he will be a fan a Showtime’s Dexter and pick up some pointers. Dexter certainly is a fan of Bateman, if you caught the reference on the show in season 3.

The film will still be watered-down, just like the first version. There ‘s no way they put that gruesomeness on the big screen. Takashi Miike would but I doubt Lionsgate wants an NC-17 horror film on their hands.

About the author

Rollo Tomasi

A Political Science and MBA grad who started FilmBook during an eCommerce B-School course in 2008. Cinema and TV addict. Former writer at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and Alternative Film Guide. In addition to writing for FilmBook, he also edits the copy published on the website, manages its writing staff, manages the back-end operations, site finances, its social network accounts, and works with publicists, actors, and companies on press coverage and promotions. He has also created ProMovieBlogger.com and Trending Awards.com.